Work Text:
Wumuti came home to find shards of a broken plate littering the floor. The jagged pieces trailed from the kitchen into the corridor, with the last fragment laying in front of the stairs that led up to the second floor.
Taking a moment to kneel and properly examine the remains of the plate, Wumuti saw exactly what he was dreading most - there were smears of blood here and there on the white ceramic, puzzlingly mixed in with what looked like bits of hair.
Properly freaked out by the sight, Wumuti took the steps two at a time and nearly fell into Rui’s and Haru’s shared room through the partially-open door, only managing to steady himself at the last second. He knocked for propriety’s sake, though it seemed pointless when he could already see half the room.
“Rui?” He listened carefully. “Haru? Are you home?”
There was a rustling sound directly behind the door, but no answer.
“Is everything okay?” Wumuti tried again. “There’s sharp pieces all over the place, so…”
He trailed off. He heard a vague noise that might’ve been a huff, and the unmistakeable sound of very light footsteps. Clearly someone was in there, and the lack of any response was doing awful things to Wumuti’s blood pressure. His brain was already trying to supply him with the worst-case scenario he could find in there, and he had to make an effort to push the thoughts away.
Then he saw a weird-looking animal stumble across the room within his line of sight.
At first glance, it looked like a regular fox, from the slender dark legs to the fluffy red fur to the long snout with twitching whiskers. Yet something felt wrong about it; its legs seemed to try to bend at angles unnatural for a four-legged animal as though it was still learning to walk, its movements awkward with none of the grace he would’ve expected from a real fox.
The creature turned its head. Its gaze was piercing, rooting Wumuti to the spot; it was as though the animal recognised him, despite him never seeing it before. The fox let out a noise, something between a growl and a whine, and crawled under Haru’s bed.
Wumuti stood very still, trying to process what he just saw. The likely and quite non-reassuring conclusion he came to was that he was hallucinating from lack of sleep and staying up late to work, though that didn’t explain the shattered plate.
Still on edge, he went to clean up the broken pieces before anyone else came home. By the time he put away the broom and dustpan, he was almost calm, comfortingly close to convincing himself that he imagined the strange animal and that the plate must’ve been left by one of the other members who didn’t have time to clean it up. He didn’t feel like engaging in the flawed logic of any of these conclusions.
Humming his latest ear worm under his breath, Wumuti went back to Rui’s and Haru’s room to make sure he didn’t accidentally trail any of the sharp pieces inside. He may or may not have been considering checking under Haru’s bed to make sure the animal really didn’t exist.
He peeked into the room and immediately locked eyes with Haru.
Haru was sitting on the floor with a thick blanket wrapped tightly around him, cheeks feverishly pink and eyes bloodshot. He flinched when he saw Wumuti, looking at him with so much dread in his eyes that Wumuti’s breathing stuttered. He never wanted Haru to look at him like that ever again.
“Haru!” Wumuti gasped. He hurriedly made his way over to kneel at Haru’s side, hands hovering over his shoulders. Haru watched him with wide eyes, barely blinking as he tracked Wumuti’s every movement.
“Are you okay?” Wumuti gently touched his shoulder, but Haru didn’t react at all. “Is there…? I mean, I think I saw…”
Haru cleared his throat. “I’m okay, hyung.” His voice was raspy.
Wumuti wasn’t convinced. The drops of blood and chunks of loose fur scattered on the floor around Haru, coupled with Haru’s overall ill appearance, were making a stone cold pit of anxiety form in his stomach.
“Define ‘okay’, please.” Wumuti reached out to brush Haru’s hair out of his eyes. Haru watched the movement tensely, but as soon as Wumuti’s hand touched him, he visibly relaxed, eyes falling closed. His forehead was warm.
“Just okay,” Haru said. Wumuti waited for him to elaborate, but Haru stayed quiet as Wumuti lightly scratched at his scalp. He paused when he felt something under his nails, and discreetly glanced at his hand; a few red animal hairs were stuck to his fingertips, bright against Haru’s actual hair colour.
Wumuti didn’t pry for now. He deposited Haru in the bathroom, threw some clean clothes in after him, and went to check under Haru’s bed knowing full well that he won’t find anything. Or anyone.
There were no new clues to be found, either. All he could do was look around the room again, then clean the floor from the debris, trying to remember if he saw any blood on Haru himself. His temples throbbed with a headache by the time he was done.
The shower was off when he walked past the bathroom on the way to his own room. He gave the closed door a lingering glance, then continued on his journey to find a painkiller and a glass of water. He got the latter, only to discover that his pill bottle was empty.
When Haru found him in his room, Wumuti was sitting on Hyun’s bed, clutching Hyun’s pillow for emotional support and biting his knuckles in lieu of his nails to keep his manicure safe. The relief the sight of Haru awkwardly standing in the doorway while hugging himself brought Wumuti nearly made him forget about his pounding head. He patted the spot next to him.
They sat next to each other on the bed in silence. Haru kept glancing at him, then lowering his eyes. Wumuti came up with about thirty different conversation starters and used none of them, unable to find one that suited this bizarre situation.
“Sorry about the plate,” Haru finally said.
“The - huh?” Wumuti completely forgot about the plate already.
“I’ll get a new one,” Haru promised.
“What are you… forget the plate.” Wumuti rubbed his forehead. The headache was starting to get worse. “There was an animal in your room, wasn’t there? What was it?”
It took Haru a while to answer, and when he did, he couldn’t look at Wumuti. “It was me.”
“Oh.” Wumuti nodded dumbly. “Okay.”
Haru nervously glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “Are you mad?”
Wumuti kind of wanted to laugh. “Mad about what? I have no idea what you even mean.”
“I didn’t intend to freak you out,” Haru said quickly, suddenly grabbing Wumuti’s hand and holding it tightly in both of his. “I didn’t know you’d be home so soon.”
Wumuti couldn’t tell if Haru’s hands were so warm because of the recent hot shower, or if his temperature was going up. Haru anxiously watched his face, hands trembling.
“…So you can turn into an animal?” Wumuti’s voice pitched awkwardly halfway through the sentence. Every rational brain cell he had left was trying to resist the information he was receiving, begging him to look for an actually realistic explanation, but he was doing a decent job of ignoring it.
“It’s not that I can,” Haru said. “It just… happens from time to time now.”
He looked so vulnerable, saying the words slowly like he didn’t quite want to believe them himself. Wumuti held his arm open in invitation, and Haru immediately leaned into his side, resting his head on Wumuti’s shoulder. Only then did Wumuti notice the harsh pink lines all over Haru’s skin, at first glance similar to sleep lines bedsheets might leave. Wumuti remembered the clumps of loose fur and blood and fought back nausea.
“So, like… a werewolf?” Wumuti asked falteringly. He tried to recall if he knew anything about shapeshifters, or humans who turned into animals in general, but it wasn’t much; it was also all entirely fictional.
“Not exactly.” Haru sniffed. “If I get a cut and it bleeds, I turn into an animal.”
Wumuti digested this. “Does it have to be a cut, specifically? What if you get a bloody nose?”
“I really don’t know, hyung.” Haru sighed quietly. “I haven’t checked.”
“Right, got it.” Wumuti nodded like he just heard a weather forecast for tomorrow, and not reality-bending information. He rubbed Haru’s bicep, trying to loosen the tension in his arm. “When did you… this definitely hasn’t happened before.”
“No,” Haru agreed. “I think I got cursed.”
Wumuti blinked. “Cursed?”
“I don’t know.” Though Haru sounded frustrated, his body relaxed further and further with each word he spoke. “It suddenly happened for the first time a few months ago, and I had no idea why it happened to me or what I could do about it.” He shrugged. “Maybe I offended someone by accident, or ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Who knows?”
A few months ago. He’s been having a hard time for several months, hiding this from everyone and dealing with it all by himself, and Wumuti didn’t suspect a single thing. He should’ve noticed something this serious. He should’ve found a way to help Haru, not let it get to this point.
“You shouldn’t have to put up with this alone,” Wumuti said hoarsely.
“It’s okay, really.” Haru nuzzled his shoulder. “Could be worse. And if I’m careful, I can avoid it happening at all.”
No amount of carefulness could protect Haru well enough. “And no one else knows this?”
“Only you, now,” Haru said. The lines on his skin softened considerably, the evidence of his earlier transformation gradually disappearing.
The recent change in Haru’s overall mood couldn’t be more obvious now that Wumuti knew all this. His personality seemed subdued, he was more quiet than usual and was often lost in thought. His smiles dimmed, he laughed and joked around less, he didn’t sleep well - and Wumuti only knew about the latter because Rui told him after noticing it himself.
Wumuti couldn’t stop kicking himself over it. He shouldn’t have accepted Haru’s excuses, blaming everything on stress and perfectionism, but he couldn’t think of what he should’ve done instead. Even now that he knew the truth, he had no solution.
He wondered if Haru would’ve ever told him about this if he didn’t accidentally witness it. He understood very well why Haru kept it a secret, but Wumuti was a human being like any other. More than anything, he wanted his friend to trust him.
In the coming days they ended up devising what Wumuti stubbornly called a plan, but in reality was more of a loose agreement. If Wumuti noticed something was off, or Haru had to quickly leave in order to transform in peace, he would cover for him.
It was hardly useful, and as careful as Haru was, downright to using knives at ridiculously slow speeds during cooking, it was impossible to avoid all injury forever.
It was a paper cut, of all things, that did it. Wumuti saw everything as if in slow motion; the edge digging into Haru’s finger, the spot of red on the paper, Haru’s wide eyes as he processed what this meant.
Haru jumped to his feet and gripped the back of the chair so hard his knuckles turned pale. He breathed unsteadily for a few seconds, then stepped back to avoid Wumuti’s arms as he tried to give him a comforting hug. “No, hyung, no.” Haru shook his head and looked around the room anxiously, then held his face in his hands and walked away.
Wumuti trailed after him, numb with fear, frustrated to be so helpless while Haru was in distress. “Is there something I can do? Do you need anything?” He clenched his hands into fists to avoid wringing them.
A soft noise as Haru pressed his forehead against the wall. “Please don’t look at me,” he said quietly, still hiding his face.
Wumuti’s eyes stung. “Okay,” he said, but didn’t move. Only when he spotted bits of Haru’s skin dripping like wax under his hands, a flash of pink under it, did he turn around.
This might’ve been the worst moment of Wumuti’s life so far. The cracking noises were making him feel ill, and he covered his mouth, trying to take deep breaths.
When Haru let out a pained whine, Wumuti nearly broke his promise. His head was half-turned before he forced himself to freeze, staring straight ahead, haunted by the vague movement he would’ve been able to see in the corner of his eye if he slightly moved his pupils. His breathing was heavy, like he just ran up several flights of stairs.
Haru whimpered, quieter this time. Wumuti swallowed and closed his eyes, made himself turn around again with his back to Haru. His entire body shook, tears pricking at his eyes. He wanted to trust Haru, but it was so, so hard right now.
When the sickening noises subsided and everything went quiet, Wumuti took a deep breath and very slowly turned his head. He was terrified that he’ll see carnage, peeled skin, broken bones; but there was nothing of the sort. Only a ruffled fox with its fur sticking up sitting on top of a pile of clothes.
Wumuti didn’t realise he fell to the floor until the fox looked at him, directly at his eye level. He crawled forward, knees already smarting with fresh bruises, and reached out with his hand. His fingers hovered a centimetre away from the fox’s nose.
Fox-Haru just looked at him, then gingerly made his way in the other direction. He moved strangely, unused to the fox limbs he had now.
Wumuti watched him leave, tracking him with his eyes long enough to make sure he wasn’t seriously hurt or needed any help. When the fox hid behind Haru’s backpack, he sighed and dusted himself off before getting up. He wiped his face, surprised to find a tear track under his eye.
He sat down in his chair, cheek pressed against the cold wood of the table.
As far as he could recall, Haru should be stuck in this form for about three hours, maybe a little less considering how small the cut was. They were in the company building, using the small “conference room” that at this point was more like Wumuti’s personal favourite work room. There shouldn’t be too many people around this late in the day, and if Haru stayed as quiet as he was right now, there shouldn’t be any trouble with letting him wait it out here.
On the other hand, Haru won’t feel great once he turned back. Right away, he’ll need fresh clothes, hot water, maybe food and a drink, lots of rest. It might be more troublesome to get him home in that exhausted, worn-out state.
A knock on the door startled him out of his thoughts. Today could, in fact, get worse.
Hyun waved at him through the glass window of the door, grinning and holding up a cardboard cup of coffee. His smile faltered when he got a good look at Wumuti, and Wumuti could only imagine what Hyun was thinking. He self-consciously smoothed down his hair and wiped his eyes.
He had to think quickly. Shooing Hyun away would be not only very hurtful, but also extremely suspicious to the point that Rui, once Hyun definitely told him about this, would stop at nothing to get to the bottom of it. Haru was so silent that Hyun wouldn’t be able to guess that there was anyone else in the room. He could let him in for a few minutes, then come up with an excuse to get him to leave.
Wumuti’s thoughts swirled in his head in a haphazard way that usually came from having a fever. He felt his own face and didn’t find it that hot, but who knows.
“Hi!” Hyun handed him the coffee with a concerned smile. “You look… tired.”
Wumuti smiled vaguely and took a sip of the coffee. “And you look as handsome as ever.”
Hyun sighed loudly, exasperated, and brushed past him into the room before Wumuti could stop him. “Did Haru leave already?”
Wumuti just now noticed that Hyun had a cup in his other hand, too. He set it down on the table and looked around the room curiously.
“He-he just stepped out,” Wumuti said in his least shady tone.
Hyun gave him a strange look. “Okay, I’ll leave it here for him.” He thought for a second, then picked up a pen and wrote something on the cardboard cup holder. “He hasn’t been feeling well recently, has he?” Hyun asked.
Wumuti would’ve loved to have this conversation - at any other time, not right now. “It’s, uh, probably stress.”
“You think?” Hyun frowned thoughtfully and put down the pen.
Wumuti nodded quickly. “We’ve had a lot to do lately, these things add up.”
Hyun furrowed his brows and leaned with his hand on the table. “I guess - “
The table shifted. The cup of tea trembled, but didn’t fall; what fell were the few notebooks precariously balanced on the edge on the other side of the table. They hit the floor in a flurry of papers, accompanied by a loud, offended yelp.
Hyun’s head snapped in the direction of the noise. “What-what was that?”
Wumuti wanted to lie down. He should’ve cleaned up the mess on the table beforehand, or even better, stayed home to work.
Instead of wisely staying put, Hyun chose the horror movie protagonist route and went around to check out the noise. Wumuti scrambled to hold him back. “Wait a second, wait.”
Hyun gave him an incredulous look. “It sounded like an animal.”
“No, I don’t think so - “ At this moment, the fallen pile of papers decided to growl and start rustling. Wumuti could’ve cried.
“It might be a rat,” Hyun said, gently prying Wumuti’s fingers out of his shirt. “I’ll go see.”
“No, don’t!” Wumuti knew that he was acting more suspicious by the second, but he didn’t know what else to do. He dragged Hyun away just as the fox jumped out of the flurry of papers and let out several quick, annoyed barks.
To his credit, Hyun didn’t do anything drastic. He stared at the fox spinning in a circle with its fur sticking up, then at Wumuti. “…What is that?” He asked weakly.
“Nothing,” Wumuti said quickly.
“Um.” Hyun blinked, then looked back at the distressed fox. “Shouldn’t we let it outside? I’ll call someone.”
He already had his phone in his hand. The fox growled as Hyun pulled up the numbers pad.
“No-no-no, wait,” Wumuti pleaded, covering the phone screen with his hand. His heart beat wildly. “Listen, this is Haru.”
Hyun smiled, but it quickly faded once he realised Wumuti was dead serious. “Hyung, are you okay?”
Wumuti helplessly shook his head. He experienced a rollercoaster of emotions within the past hour, leaving him too mentally drained to be okay. He glanced at fox-Haru standing against the wall with his tail held high, watching them warily. A few scraps of torn paper were stuck in his claws.
Wumuti wondered how much awareness Haru the person had when he was in this form, wishing he could’ve asked Haru this beforehand. He had no idea if the fox in front of them could comprehend their words, read their facial expressions, understand who they were. What if he didn’t recognise Hyun? Did he recognise Wumuti?
The thought lodged in his throat. Wumuti pulled away from Hyun and slowly walked over to the tense fox, ignoring Hyun calling after him. He crouched down and extended his hand invitingly, looking for the slightest hint that Haru still knew him.
The fox’s mouth fell open, sharp teeth glinting.
“Wumuti!” Hyun was panicking.
Wumuti took a deep breath and kept his hand steady. Fox-Haru licked his fingers, then let out a snort and tottered away on still-awkward legs.
“Why did you do that?” Hyun was at Wumuti’s side, pulling him to his feet. “What if you got bit?”
“Haru wouldn’t,” Wumuti said confidently. Even covered in fur and with a mouthful of sharp teeth that should’ve scared Wumuti as much as it did Hyun, he just knew that his friend was still in there somewhere, aware of their presence. He was starting to feel a bit better.
“What are you talking about,” Hyun muttered, at a complete loss. There was genuine concern in his eyes as he looked from Wumuti to fox-Haru.
Wumuti smiled wordlessly. Hyun’s facial expression turned troubled; Wumuti could tell that he was deep in thought, as if trying to come to a decision.
“Haru!” Hyun suddenly called. The fox paused and questioningly looked at him in response, ears twitching. When Hyun simply stared back without saying anything else, the creature warbled and continued on his lopsided quest around the room.
Hyun collapsed onto the nearest chair, hand pressed to his forehead. Worried that the shock might be too much for him, Wumuti hurried over to soothe him, perched on his thigh to stroke his shoulders. Hyun hooked an arm around his waist to steady him and looked up, at a complete loss.
“Now what?” He asked in a small voice.
“He’ll turn back soon,” Wumuti said, brushing through Hyun’s hair with his fingers. “It’ll take some time.”
Hyun nodded and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Their lacklustre conversation was cut short by a loud yelp and the sound of thrashing. Fox-Haru flew under the table, stumbled into the table leg, and dropped onto his side with a whine.
Wumuti and Hyun scrambled to save him, but it turned out the cause of the drama was a long piece of tape Haru managed to find somewhere on the floor and got a chunk of his fur stuck to it. Tension started to bleed out of Wumuti as he chuckled, then full on-cackled like a hyena as the fox gave him an annoyed glare while he carefully peeled off the tape painfully stuck to his fur.
“Stay still,” Wumuti scolded as the fox tried to roll over, then playfully tapped his nose. The look the creature was giving him was so Haru that Wumuti forgot all his worries for a second, finding the fox rather cute.
He had to procure manicure scissors to get the tape all the way off. He hoped that Haru won’t have a bald spot anywhere when he changed back.
Once the offending tape was removed, Haru paced disoriented circles around himself. He then finally plopped down at Hyun’s feet, letting out a yip and burying his nose in his paws. Hyun looked at Wumuti in wonder, then very slowly reached out and stroked the fur at the fox’s collar. His hand jerked as Haru made a sound, something between a growl and a purr.
All three of them tensed when they heard voices in the corridor. They stopped by the door for a few seconds, absorbed in a conversation, then thankfully passed by without walking in.
Wumuti checked the time, and made the decision he should’ve made from the beginning. The risk of discovery became too great the longer they stayed here, and he couldn’t guarantee that no one heard the commotion in the room just now. If they left right this second, they’ll have enough time to get Haru home and comfortable.
Wumuti and Hyun ended up smuggling the creature onto the metro. Haru must’ve understood what their plan was, because he stayed very quiet and barely moved inside Wumuti’s bag, warming Wumuti’s knees through the dense fabric. Wumuti had to take out almost everything to get the fox inside, and what didn’t fit into his or Hyun’s pockets had to stay behind.
His heart pounded so hard he could almost hear it over the noise of the train. He tiredly leaned against Hyun, who was staring straight ahead with an unreadable expression, bouncing the leg that was pressed flush against Wumuti’s on the seat.
Wumuti could’ve sobbed out of sheer relief when they managed to get back to the dorm without other incidents. He checked carefully to make sure Rui wasn’t home, then shook the creature out of the bag. Fox-Haru rolled out, sniffed the floor, and hid under the bed.
Hyun went to his room to “lie down for a bit”, and Wumuti didn’t see him for the rest of the day.
Wumuti periodically checked up on Haru, who spent the rest of his time as a fox under the bed. When it was over, he found Haru on top of the bed with a blanket around him. A towel lay crumpled on the floor.
He looked exhausted. He smiled weakly when he saw Wumuti. “Hi, hyung.”
“How do you feel?” Wumuti felt his forehead, finding it a bit warm.
“I’m kind of hungry.” Haru self-consciously lowered his eyes.
Wumuti went to the kitchen to make him instant noodles. He then found a few fried shrimp left over from a previous restaurant order and decided to bring those as well. Haru visibly brightened up as he received the food.
Wumuti sat down next to him, the creases covering Haru’s skin instantly catching his eye - they were dark pink, thicker than last time. Haru caught him staring and pulled the blanket up higher with one hand.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Wumuti asked, not wanting to hear the answer. “Transforming.”
Haru slowly chewed the noodles. “It does,” he said quietly.
Wumuti could already tell, but hearing Haru say it out loud made his throat grow tight. “Poor Haru,” he murmured, petting Haru’s knee over the blanket.
“It’s not that bad!” Haru said quickly, fumbling with the bowl and chopsticks to stick them on the bedside table behind him. He then put both his hands over Wumuti’s. “I’m really okay now, don’t worry.”
Easier said than done, but Wumuti didn’t want to make Haru anxious. “Alright then,” he said easily, and gave Haru a reassuring smile. “Eat before it gets cold.”
Haru nodded, his face clearing up.
“Did I do anything weird while I was changed?” Haru asked, once he demolished all the shrimp.
“You don’t remember?”
Haru frowned, pondering. “Whatever I do remember is very foggy. Like I’m trying to remember a dream.”
So that’s how that worked. “Well…” Wumuti mulled over his words. “Hyun found out.”
Haru turned pale. “He did?”
“On the bright side, he didn’t freak out that much.” Wumuti patted Haru's head. Haru looked thoughtful, slowly sipping the noodle broth.
“In that case, should I tell Rui-hyung, too?” He finally asked, poking at the remaining noodle bits at the bottom of the bowl. “It… doesn’t feel right if he’s the only one not to know.”
Wumuti pushed down the spike of dread at the thought of yet another person finding this out, telling himself that this was Rui. They could trust him. Not to mention that if they were going to figure out a way to undo these transformations, Haru’ll need all the help he could get.
“He’s your roommate, after all,” Wumuti said, massaging Haru’s hand. “I’m actually surprised that you’ve been able to hide it this long from him of all people.”
Haru nodded mutely.
“It’ll be okay,” Wumuti added, squeezing his hand.
To the confusion of all three of them, Rui wasn’t that fazed by the new information. He very attentively listened as Haru told him everything, head on Rui’s shoulder as he played with the strings of Rui’s hoodie, then said “well then, okay” and didn’t ask for any additional explanation. Wumuti could only assume that Rui thought they were pranking him and was waiting for them to eventually reveal it.
It also turned out that he had nothing to worry about when it came to Hyun, either. Though Hyun was clearly shocked by what happened that day, he didn’t treat Haru any differently. He still tried to cheer him up however he could, brought him his favourite snacks, and fought back his homebody instincts to drag Haru to go out whenever he seemed particularly down.
Rui’s strategy to lift Haru’s spirits was to spend more hours in the dance studio, which really was doing wonders for Haru’s mood.
“He keeps going even when I’m dead tired,” Rui reported, laying on his back in Wumuti’s bed and taking up all the space. Wumuti was starting to fear that he’ll have to sleep on the floor.
Wumuti nudged Rui’s leg. “You’re getting old.”
“Look who’s talking,” Rui sniffed, but moved over to make room for the bed’s rightful owner.
With Rui curled into his side, Wumuti continued the same train of thought that plagued him for days.
Wumuti tried to do research about Haru’s condition, but he kept running into dead ends or going down rabbit holes that terminated in even deader ends. He’s read more folk tales than he ever had in his life, combed through any historical text he could decipher that had anything to do with people turning into animals, tried to look up terms on different search engines in different languages. Nothing tangible.
He had to figure something out soon. Once Haru needed to get a blood test or an IV, this will become a very serious problem.
The major missing link was the fact that Haru had no idea how this happened in the first place. The only information to go off of was that Haru first transformed several months ago, that he definitely had to bleed for the change to take place, and that it took about three hours for him to switch back - unless the timing changed depending on the size of the injury, a hypothesis none of them wanted to test.
Wumuti wasn’t quite at the point of tearing his hair out yet, but he could tell that he’ll get close soon.
Haru ended up transforming one more time in front of Hyun, but Wumuti didn’t witness it. He just came home one day to find Haru covered in pink welts again, with Hyun standing over him and drying his hair.
“I’m okay,” Haru said when Wumuti hugged him tightly, though Wumuti didn’t ask anything yet. Wumuti made eye contact with Hyun over Haru’s shoulder.
Hyun shrugged in response, then set the towel around Haru’s neck. “All done.” He leaned down and kissed the top of Haru’s head, clearly on a whim because he instantly pulled back, got shy, and escaped all within a few seconds.
Haru blinked, then looked at Wumuti. “Hyun-hyung’s very cute lately.”
Wumuti laughed. “So are you.”
“I mean it.” Haru smiled. “He shared his lunch with me today.”
Wumuti hummed, brushing out Haru’s fringe. “Human you or fox you?”
Haru grinned and averted his gaze, which was as good as a clear answer. The image of Hyun feeding fox-Haru bites of food was adorable, and he could only blame himself for missing it. He couldn’t dwell on the thought too much, because there was something much more important - he was overjoyed to see Haru smile so brightly.
Then Rui came home with Haru’s favourite ice cream in his bag, and Haru cheered up completely.
“Thank you,” Wumuti murmured, watching Haru happily dig in. “He didn’t have a good day.”
“I know, Hyun told me.” Rui leaned against Wumuti’s arm. “This isn’t great, is it?”
Wumuti sighed. He wished he was closer to figuring out a solution.
The next time happened surprisingly soon, only a week later. Wumuti didn’t see the specifics, but he did see Haru suddenly bolt upright and quickly walk out of the living room. He exchanged a concerned look with Rui, who managed to sit still for about five minutes before following Haru to their room. Wumuti ran after him, torn between asking Rui to give Haru some privacy and joining him to check up on Haru, ultimately choosing the latter.
Fox-Haru was laying on the floor, snout hidden under the pillow he swiped off the bed. His ears twitched when he heard them come in.
“Haru?” Rui looked him over, then turned to Wumuti. “You know, I’m kind of surprised you all weren’t playing a joke on me.”
Even now, he wasn’t freaking out at all, studying the creature he’s never seen before with warm curiosity. He was truly a fascinating person.
Haru looked up, his pointed, gleaming teeth bared. When Rui leaned closer, he opened his mouth completely, letting out a loud bark.
Rui’s hands shook, but his facial expression remained mild. He easily picked Haru up, ignoring the jaw full of sharp teeth, and hugged him close. “Ooh, how scary.”
Fox-Haru closed his mouth and blinked, as though confused. He stayed still for a while, listening as he was pressed against Rui’s chest, then squirmed in his grip until he could put his front paws on Rui’s shoulder and turn his head this way and that, assessing his surroundings.
Rui gave Wumuti a feeble smile, the cracks in his calm demeanour opening as soon as Haru wasn’t looking. Despite that, he was tenderly stroking Haru’s fur, holding him carefully.
Though there was still something off about fox-Haru, something uncanny that a regular fox didn’t have, he was still so precious. He sniffed Rui’s cheek, making Rui let out a nervous giggle, then twitched his whiskers and looked back at Wumuti.
Wumuti came up and scratched under the creature’s jaw with both hands. “Hi, little fox.”
Haru’s mouth fell open again, tongue lolling out, and Wumuti finally realised that he’s been trying to smile this whole time. Wumuti felt his eyes grow wet. He was such a cute little fox, even if he was a little weird.
As cute as he was like this, Wumuti needed him to be a cute human instead. He kept researching, finding more sources that led nowhere. At least now he could count on Hyun’s and Rui’s help, and rely on them to be diligent about it. They compared notes and poked holes in each others’ theories, drew diagrams and then discarded them. Slowly, a list was forming of possible leads and solutions that filled up even quicker with rebuttals and debunking info.
Wumuti was growing frustrated. They had to be doing something wrong to not find anything promising after so much effort.
“What if I don’t change back one day?” Haru asked, his cheek pressed against Wumuti’s shoulder as they cuddled in Haru’s bed, lazying around after a long photoshoot. “What then?”
Wumuti didn’t dare to imagine it. He couldn’t handle the thought of never hearing Haru’s voice again, never seeing him dance anymore, being unable to hug him properly.
He hummed vaguely. “Then we’ll figure something out.” He tucked the blanket tighter around Haru and hugged him over it.
“We’ll feed you chicken every day!” Rui called from across the room.
Haru laughed. “That’s pretty good.”
“I’ll get a cute bag to carry you around,” Wumuti promised.
“Can’t you just carry me in your arms?” Haru smiled slyly.
Wumuti pressed his cheek against Haru’s forehead. “I’ll consider it.”
Haru nodded, content.
Haru got an entire month of peace before another transformation. Wumuti managed to catch the very end of it, watching in horror as the fox creature rolled around on the floor, limbs bent at odd angles. Popping sounds rang in Wumuti’s ears as the legs aligned themselves properly, bones shoved into sockets and popped into place.
Wumuti didn’t mean to see this. He stood frozen at the entrance, unsure of what to do.
When fox-Haru hazily stumbled to his feet, eyes squeezed shut in discomfort, legs sliding clumsily, Wumuti’s chest suddenly felt tight. He couldn’t help rushing over, not knowing what to do but wanting to do something, hands roaming over the fox's fur, fingertips brushing over his spine, his tail.
Wumuti startled when Haru actually growled at him, lips curled back from his teeth.
He was stunned. Haru’s never directly snapped at him before.
Fox-Haru used his hesitation to dart past him with surprising agility, paws skidding on the floor, and slip out the front door to make a run for it.
“Wait!” Wumuti stumbled over himself to chase after him, but it was too late. There were no traces of him in the corridor, on the stairs, the main door on the first floor. Wumuti paced in front of the entrance calling Haru’s name into the warm evening air, but received no answer.
Wumuti returned to the dorm, determined not to panic. He calmly texted Hyun and Rui a concerning amount of times within the span of ten minutes, calmly left several voicemails, calmly tried to call Haru’s phone and just as calmly realised that he was being foolish when he heard it ring in the pile of clothes left on the floor.
So anxious he was turning numb, Wumuti slipped to the floor, back pressed against the front door. If - when - Haru came back, he needed to be here to let him in.
Hyun called back and promised to look around, reassuring Wumuti that Haru will definitely turn up. Rui texted him to say just about the same thing. Wumuti barely absorbed their words, setting his phone down and continuing to sit there, the sinking feeling in his stomach threatening to turn into full-on nausea.
A scratching noise at the other side of the door eventually distracted him from his thoughts. His body heavy from the spike of stress earlier, he didn’t stand; he reached up and pulled on the doorknob, shuffling aside to crack the door open.
A flash of reddish-orange darted into the apartment.
“Look who’s back,” Wumuti said, voice thin. Relief was slow to come, and he was still agitated as he forced himself to get up and follow the fox into the main room.
His blood ran cold when he realised Haru was limping, red spots trailing after him with every step. All animosity completely forgotten, he bundled the creature into his arms while ignoring the yelps of protest and carried him into the bathroom, depositing him onto the mat.
The creature growled and whined as Wumuti carefully removed all the glass from his paw.
“Do you want me to have grey hair at my age?” Wumuti sniffed, wrapping the wound with a bandage. “Why did you run out? You knew how worried I’d be.”
Fox-Haru guiltily flattened his ears to his head.
Despite scolding him, Wumuti’s heart wasn’t really in it. He mostly did it to give an outlet to all the nervous energy he built up, worrying so hard he nearly made himself sick for several long hours while Haru wandered around somewhere, alone and in a body he wasn’t used to, apparently getting himself injured.
“What if something worse happened?” Wumuti added, half-heartedly. The fox whined and looked at him with big, wet eyes, curled up on the floor with his hurt paw under him. Wumuti couldn’t take it and pulled him into his arms.
“You could’ve just told me you wanted to take a walk,” Wumuti mumbled, stroking the creature's head. Haru huffed quietly, his ears twitching.
It took longer for Haru to change back this time. It was hour five by the time fox-Haru jumped off Wumuti’s lap and left, and when Wumuti went to look for him, dreading that he might’ve run away again, he found him in his own room. Haru was in fresh clothes, sitting on Wumuti’s bed, Wumuti’s blanket thrown over his shoulders.
Wumuti handed him a towel, and Haru wiped the loose fur and bits of blood off his face.
The bandage fell off when Haru transformed, exposing a series of cuts on the palm of his hand, which where thankfully no longer bleeding. Wumuti took out a roll of bandage from his pocket and wordlessly wrapped Haru’s hand again.
“Thank you, hyung,” Haru said quietly.
Wumuti raised his head and gave him a deep look. Haru fidgeted nervously.
“Please don’t run off like that again,” Wumuti finally said. He stroked Haru’s bandaged palm. “I was going crazy, wondering where you could be.”
“I’m sorry,” Haru rasped out. He leaned forward with his arms raised, and when Wumuti didn’t pull back, wrapped him up into a hug.
“You got hurt.” Wumuti’s voice was thick.
“It’s just a cut,” Haru said, voice wavering. “It’s not… I’m really sorry.”
Wumuti sighed deeply and hugged him back. Haru’s entire body was tense, and he clung to Wumuti like a koala. He was too warm again.
“I hated that you saw me like that,” Haru suddenly mumbled into Wumuti’s shoulder.
Wumuti blinked. “I’ve seen you as a fox several times now.”
“You saw what changing looks like.” Haru tightened his hold around Wumuti. “I know it looks horrible, and that I scared you, and… I didn’t want anyone to see that, ever, but especially not you.”
Wumuti was at a loss. “But why?”
Haru pressed their cheeks together, and Wumuti felt the deep lines in Haru’s skin brush against his face.
“If I saw you looking at me with disgust, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.” Haru’s words were barely audible.
Wumuti was torn between feeling exasperated and a little offended. “I would never think that.”
“Okay,” Haru said in the least convinced tone possible.
“I mean it.” Wumuti pulled away and made Haru look at him directly. “It’s impossible for me to be disgusted by anything about you. Even if you turned into a giant spider instead of a fox, I’d still like you.”
Haru barely smiled. “Alright, I believe you.”
“Never forget that, understood?” Wumuti stroked Haru’s shoulder, smoothing down the blanket. “And don’t scare me like that again.”
Haru nodded mutely, eyes lowered.
“Come on, I’m not angry.” Wumuti held Haru’s hand tightly. “What will cheer you up, hm?”
Haru looked at him. A tear ran down his cheek.
Wumuti’s pulse spiked. “Oh, Haru…”
“I don’t… It’s just…” Haru sniffed, wiping his eyes. “I’m so tired, hyung.”
Wumuti’s heart hurt. He hugged Haru as tightly as possible, wishing that he could do something, anything, to ease his distress. He could feel Haru shaking from the effort of trying to hold back sobs, the collar of his shirt soon growing damp.
He only parted from Haru when Rui and Hyun came home and took over his spot. He went to wash his face and get Haru something to eat, knowing in the back of his mind that it was probably pointless after Haru wore himself out crying.
He was right. Haru ate a single bite of fried rice and spent the rest of the time cradling the container in his lap.
While Hyun was making a futile effort to encourage Haru to eat more, Rui was playing with Haru’s hair, trying to make it stick up like hedgehog needles. Every time Rui let out a frustrated noise when the hair wouldn’t do what he wanted it to, Haru’s lips twitched in a faint smile. Wumuti was happy to see even that much.
He took the rice and set it on the bedside table. “Finish it later, okay?”
Haru nodded, visibly relieved. Wumuti stroked his cheek and Haru leaned into his palm, eyes closed. He looked so drained; Wumuti’s heart squeezed in sympathy.
“Do you want anything?” Hyun didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. “Medicine? A drink?”
Haru shook his head slowly. “No, nothing. I think I’ll just lie down.”
Wumuti patted Rui’s paws away and smoothed down Haru’s hair. “Sleep early today, Haru-ah.”
Haru nodded, leaning into Rui’s side. Rui adjusted his pose to let Haru put his head on his shoulder, one arm wrapped around him.
“You know you’re our friend no matter what, right?” Hyun suddenly said.
Haru looked up at him sharply. Hyun had an uncanny ability sometimes to pinpoint exactly what was bothering someone, or what they were worried about. Wumuti didn’t tell him any details about what happened between him and Haru earlier, but he supposed it wasn’t difficult to guess at.
“I’m just saying.” Hyun grew shy when he realised all three of them were staring at him. “We’ll always be there for you, that’s all.”
“That’s right,” Rui picked up Hyun’s verbal thread. He rubbed his cheek against Haru’s head, messing up his hair again. “No matter what, you’re ours forever. Got it?”
Haru finally smiled a real smile. “Got it.”
Since they were on their way to making a pile anyways, Wumuti let himself fall on the bed, head pillowed on Haru’s legs. Haru hummed, sounding a little more cheerful, and patted Wumuti’s cheek. After listening to the quiet slapping noises, he did it again.
Wumuti squeezed Haru’s knee absentmindedly, lost in thought. They’ll be by Haru’s side no matter what happened, but the best thing they could do for him was find a way to fix it. At this point he’s given up on the internet after he found himself scrolling through movie and video game lore out of sheer lack of other information to look at.
Hyun must’ve read half the local library at this point, all his free time spent with his nose in a new book. Rui typed on his phone nonstop. Wumuti started taking headache medicine more often.
He even branched out into his vast network of connections, carefully trying to scope out whether anyone would know about something like this, but he was met with blank looks and confused questions. Half his friends thought he was planning out a new concept and recommended him yet more folk tales. Someone else recommended him an anime. Alexa texted him a picture of a fox fursuit with a question mark, which somehow wasn’t the least helpful response he’s gotten.
Then one day, Rui walked into the kitchen with a flourish after being out for half the night, depositing a sheet of paper in front of Wumuti. Wumuti rubbed his face and put his glasses on, then picked up the paper. On it was a list of instructions written out in what was the neatest handwriting he’s ever seen from Rui, so carefully it looked typed up.
Wumuti looked at Rui questioningly. “Where did you get this?”
“Let’s say I asked around.” Rui winked. “Well?”
Wumuti studied the list. “Are you sure this’ll work?”
Rui shrugged. “It’s the only decent lead we’ve had so far.”
Wumuti frowned. “But…”
Rui jabbed a finger at his chest. “I had to ask a friend of a friend of a cousin of a grandmother of a friend for all this and be subtle about it. You can imagine how difficult that was.”
Wumuti wanted to point out that nothing about a friend of a cousin of whatever else meant that this information was trustworthy, but Rui was right - this was the only clue they’ve had up to this point.
“We’ll let Haru decide,” Wumuti said eventually.
Haru looked at the paper the next evening, mouthing the words to himself as he read. Wumuti sat next to him, impatiently tapping his fingers on his knee.
Haru chewed his bottom lip and looked up. “I guess I could try, but… the blood thing… is that really okay?”
Wumuti must’ve been losing his grip on reality, because nothing about it seemed that outrageous to him. A little blood-exchange between friends was nothing major.
Wumuti volunteered to be the blood donor, though the other two didn’t seem in any hurry to offer themselves anyways. They procured two one-use syringes, which wasn’t as difficult as Wumuti thought it would be, and by process of elimination Hyun ended up being stuck with the job of a novice nurse. Rui parked himself a few paces away from them, hiding his nose in his hand - the smell of blood made him dizzy.
Haru closed his eyes and winced when the needle pieced his skin, hand clenched into a fist. Predictably, a few minutes later they had a very grumpy fox biting at the hems of their pants.
The iron taste of blood felt wrong in Wumuti’s mouth. He tried not to think too hard about what he was doing and how much could go awry as he upended the shot glass, then sat still, breathing very slowly and hoping he won’t throw up. He could never be a vampire.
After waiting around, Hyun then drew some of Wumuti’s blood. While he managed to get one clean jab with Haru, he seemed to have lost all skill within a matter of minutes, poking Wumuti’s veins several times before he managed to make it work. Wumuti now had a large bruise in the crook of his elbow, but he couldn’t be bothered to mind it too much. He’d deal with a lot more than a bruise to help Haru.
“I’m sorry,” Hyun repeated about five times, then, when it was over, kissed Wumuti’s hand. Wumuti decided that the bruise didn’t bother him at all.
He could’ve sworn that fox-Haru made a face as he licked Wumuti’s blood from a plate. The crease of his elbow throbbed just from looking at it.
They then sat around to wait. The seconds trickled by so slowly that Wumuti had enough time to go through all stages of grief several times. He desperately hoped this will work, because if it didn’t, they’ll have to start from scratch. They had no other leads.
Then fox-Haru let out a hoarse bark and ran to hide behind the couch. Wumuti moved to go after him, but when he heard a sound akin to ripping fabric, he forced himself to stay seated. Hyun gave him an alarmed look, hands clenched into fists on his knees. Rui was biting his knuckles nervously.
Then Haru let out a very human cough. Wumuti let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.
Rui was lightning-quick, immediately wrapping Haru into a blanket like a shawarma. Haru blinked slowly, disoriented. His skin was streaked with the familiar pink lines, but they were fading quickly this time, disappearing in front of their eyes.
Wumuti sat down in front of him and stroked his head. “How do you feel?”
Haru wrinkled his nose. “The blood didn’t taste great.”
Wumuti wasn’t sure whether to feel offended or not.
“I think I’m alright, though,” Haru added, tilting his head to crack his neck. The look in his eyes was still hazy, like he just woke up. He let out an “oh” when he saw the giant bruise blotting Wumuti’s arm, cupping Wumuti’s elbow in his hands. “Does it hurt?”
“It’s nothing,” Wumuti said dismissively, then finally allowed himself to pull Haru into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, Haru.”
Haru fumbled to free an arm from the blanket, awkwardly placing it around Wumuti.
Rui adjusted the blanket around Haru. “Looks like it worked.” He turned to Wumuti and Hyun with an impish twinkle in his eye. “What’s that I hear? ‘Thank you, Rui’?”
“Thank you!” Haru called out, struggling to breathe in Wumuti’s python hold.
Hyun nearly tripped as he threw himself at Rui. “Thank you, hyung!”
“Alright, alright!” Rui panicked, clearly not expecting his joke to be taken so seriously. He oof-ed as Hyun fell on top of him. “We still need to make sure it actually worked!”
“True,” Hyun agreed, happily pressing Rui into the side of the couch.
Wumuti barely heard them. Haru was warm and very human, chest rising and falling against his, breath brushing against Wumuti’s hair and the side of his face. Even the smell of blood wafting from him didn't feel bothersome.
Haru nuzzled against his neck, and Wumuti pulled back to look at him. Haru gave him a bright, dazzling smile.
He was starting to believe that everything might be okay.